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General Motors To Offer Range-Wide Overnight Test Drives

In the latest effort to jump-start slowing car sales, General Motors said on Apr. 7 that it plans to let shoppers take cars and trucks home overnight, the Los Angeles Times reported. The program will give licensed adults the keys to a Cadillac Escalade, a Hummer sport utility vehicle or most of GM's other brands.

"We want people who don't consider buying a General Motors car to get in the car and experience the quality," going beyond the traditional drive around the block that dealers have long offered, GM spokeswoman Marcia McGee told the LA Times. "For people who don't consider GM cars, the incentives aren't going to do it."

The newspaper said the overnight test-drive program would run from April 15 to July 22 at participating dealerships.

The LA Times said that the brands available would be Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Saab and Saturn but the Chevrolet Corvette and the new Chevrolet SSR pickup and Cadillac XLR convertible would be excluded -- because "they're in such short supply," according to GM spokeswoman McGee.

The LA Times said to qualify for the GM promotion, a licensed driver must be 21, have proof of insurance and leave his or her vehicle at the dealership. The paper added that GM would provide insurance for the test car.